The Price of A Pair of Pants
by thatgirl93
Summary: Ron's coming home from Auror training and Hermione wants to surprise him when she ends up being surprised herself. Rated T for language.


She couldn't help but giggle as she unlocked the door and let herself in. What a brilliant plan she had devised. Ron was going to love this. He had been away at Auror training with Harry for three weeks and she could barely contain her excitement. He would be back that afternoon. How she missed him when they were apart. She both loved and loathed this feeling he gave her; loathing because it would sometimes distract her from her studies. Sometimes she would swear that her heart would swell due to the amount of love she held for him. After so many years of bickering and jealousy and tears, he was finally hers. Before he left, he had asked her to move in with him after she had finished her final year at Hogwarts and she had found herself being unable to contain her delight when she said yes and he gave her his spare key. A spare key that had now come in handy. She made her way into the small plain looking living room, unsurprised to find it a complete mess, but also thrilled. She had planned to tidy the place up for him. Only a week after Ron had acquired his first flat, Kingsley had approached he and Harry and had offered them jobs as Aurors. This left Ron with next to no time at all to be able to decorate the place to his liking (and clean up after himself). She knew that Auror training was going to be tough for him to begin with and his frequent letters telling her of his tiredness and frustrations had only confirmed her initial thoughts. She just wanted to do something that would make him smile, and give him one less thing to worry about. She decided the living room would be the best place to start as she took off her coat and placed it neatly on the sofa before rolling up her sleeves and taking out her wand from the messy bun that flopped slightly on the back of her head. She began charming the plates to float into the kitchen and land carefully in the sink before clearing the floor of any dirty laundry and dirt in general with another quick wave of her wand. This had been the easy part. She then began to wash and dry the plates and cutlery in the kitchen, putting them away in their respective cupboards and drawers before making a start in his bedroom, which was the worst of all the rooms in his dainty flat.

A pile of Quidditch magazines lay by his, unmade, bedside, along with a couple of empty crisp packets. She rolled her eyes at the mess before getting to work, finding an unoccupied space in his chest of drawers and neatly organising his Quidditch magazines inside it before gathering the rubbish and throwing it in a nearby bin. She then began to make his bed, neatly tucking the corners of the duvet under the mattress as she suddenly spotted a pile of carelessly stacked laundry hidden by the side of his large oak wardrobe. She rolled her eyes once more before deciding that the laundry could wait until later and she began to decorate the room according to Ron's tastes. She muttered a quick spell and with a wave of her wand, the walls began to turn into a soft orange colour, the borders remaining their same deep brown. Once the rooms colour had been completely transformed, she pulled out a large rolled up piece of parchment from her beaded bag and unrolled it to reveal a Chudley Cannons poster, carefully putting it up on an empty space of the wall next to his wardrobe before taking a step back and making sure it was even and watching the players whizz around in front of her. Satisfied with the positioning of the poster, she then pulled out a framed photograph of she, Ron and Harry in their third year and placed it on an angle on his bedside table. She smiled fondly at the photograph as the three of them laughed together, like someone had just told the funniest joke in the world. She struggled to remember what it was exactly that they were laughing about, which saddened her a little, but, nonetheless, it was a lovely memory that she was sure Ron would like to admire from time to time. She then returned to the living room where she used the same spell to change the colour of the walls into a soothing blue colour, and then into the kitchen where she turned the walls cream, and finally, the bathroom, which she changed to a soft salmon pink colour and was thankful that this was the only room that required no cleaning at all. She was content to see the little flat looking more like a place Ron would be proud to call his own when she remembered the pile of laundry that was left to sort through in his bedroom. She knelt down on the floor as she began to separate his tee-shirts, trousers, socks and underpants into three neat piles when she suddenly came across something she didn't quite expect to find. After sorting all of the clothing into neat piles, she had stumbled across a small trunk. She opened it cautiously to find even more unwashed clothes and she couldn't help but huff as she began to sort through them. She suddenly came across a green laced sort of fabric beneath the never-ending pile of clothing and her cheeks begun to flush a bright shade of red. Surely, those weren't _her_ underwear? How strange. She was always so careful when it came to making sure she never left anything behind when she had spent the night, and she certainly couldn't recall ever owning a pair of laced green knickers. She plucked them from the mounds of dirty tee-shirts and grass-stained trousers as she examined them curiously. She had most certainly never seen these before in her life! And then, as her eyes met the tag within them, her heart dropped to find the name ' _Lavender_ ' scribbled neatly across the label. Her cheeks began to flush red once more, but this time with anger rather than embarrassment. How had he acquired these? And more importantly; why had he held onto them!

…

She sat on the sofa in a silent rage when she heard a key turn in the door. Ron cautiously walked into the living room with his wand at the ready, almost jumping out of his skin when he found her sitting on the sofa.

"Bloody hell, Hermione! You nearly gave me a heart attack!", he exaggerated before grinning brightly at her. Hermione couldn't bring herself to look at him as he approached her and kissed her on the cheek before standing beside the sofa, watching her awkwardly. "Did you do all of this?", he asked as he suddenly noticed the change of colour in the room. Hermione simply nodded, still refusing to answer. "Wow. I love it, thank you! How did you find the time to do all of this? I thought you'd be in Hogsmeade with Ginny this weekend?", he quizzed her, trying to provoke some sort of response as he grew nervous.

"I wanted to surprise you. I told Ginny to tell you that so you'd have no idea", she replied shortly. Ron raised his eyebrow at her in concern.

"Hermione? Is there something wrong?", he dared to ask. Hermione suddenly reached down beside the sofa, something balled up tightly in her hand as she sat back up.

"Yes, there is actually. Would you mind explaining to me why on earth I found these in your bedroom?", she asked quite casually as she dangled the knickers off of her index finger, holding them in his general direction.

"Are they yours?", he asked. Hermione snapped her eyes shut in frustration.

"Don't act stupid, Ron. You _know_ they're not mine!", she fought. Ron looked as confused as ever as she shot him an angry look.

"Hermione, you've really lost me here", he told her honestly. She suddenly stood up from her seat, throwing the knickers at him as he caught them.

"Check the label, Ron!", she roared at him. Doing as he was told, Ron examined the knickers, only to look more confused by what he found.

" _Lavender_? How the bloody hell did these get here?", he thought out loud, grimacing at the laced knickers he held in his hands.

"I don't know, Ronald! Why don't you enlighten me?", Hermione demanded, becoming angrier by the second as she fought back her tears. Ron was at a loss for words as he inspected the knickers further, as if he hoped they would somehow have all of the answers. "I don't care if you did – if you did _something_ with Lavender. What I _do_ care about is you lying to me about it and keeping those horrid undergarments like some sort of sick trophy!", she roared once more, losing the battle against her tears as they began to fall freely and rapidly down her flushed cheeks.

"What? Hermione, I never lied to you! It never went further than a snog with Lavender and I've never seen these bloody things before in my life!", he protested, tossing the knickers across the room.

"Really? Then how did they get here, Ron?", she quizzed him. Ron was at a loss for words once again before he sighed and ran his lanky fingers through his messy red hair, daring to inch closer to her and placing his hands on her shoulders.

"I – I don't know. But, Hermione, I promise you, I have _never_ seen them before", he told her calmly. Hermione shrugged him off angrily, taking her coat from the sofa and putting it on in a huff before disapparating right before his very eyes. She hadn't really thought about where she was going when she disapparated but she suddenly found herself sobbing angrily outside of the Leaky Cauldron.

"Hermione?", she heard a familiar voice. She quickly turned on her heel to see Ginny staring at her in concern. "Are you alright?", she asked. Defeated and having no time to compose herself, Hermione shook her head. Ginny sighed before wrapping her arm around her shoulders and leading her inside. Hermione had told Ginny of her discovery at Ron's flat over a couple of butterbeers, leaving Ginny to ponder the situation for a moment. "Wow. I know it's a suspicious situation, but, he loves the bones of you, you know?", she said. Hermione huffed in frustration.

"Yes, I know, but, how did they get there? And why on earth would he hold on to them after all this time?", she quizzed. Now Ginny was at a loss for words. It was a strange occurrence. As she allowed her eyes to wander around the pub, she suddenly sat forward, her eyes on Hermione as she spoke in a secretive tone.

"Well, there's only one way to find out", she told her, darting her eyes over Hermione's shoulder, encouraging her to look behind her. Hermione turned in her seat to discover that Lavender herself had just waltzed into the pub. Before Hermione could say a word, Ginny had already sat up in her seat and was waving in Lavender's direction. "Oi! Lavender!", she called. Lavender gave them a shocked look before strutting over.

"Oh, hello Ginny", she smiled sweetly. "Hermione", she spoke again, her sweet smile suddenly turning sour.

"Have you got a minute? We need to ask you something", Ginny said. Lavender was clearly taken aback by Ginny's bluntness.

"Will this take long? I'm supposed to be meeting Padma", she told her. Ginny shook her head. Lavender sighed as she took a seat at their table. After a moment of silence, Lavender suddenly huffed as she rolled her eyes. "Well? Go on then, what is it?", she said shortly.

"Well, the thing is -"

"Ron's got a pair of your knickers and we want to know why", Ginny cut Hermione off abruptly. Hermione shot her an angry look as Lavender began to turn a bright shade of pink before composing herself.

"Oh. So he finally found them then?", she gave a giggle. Hermione could feel her blood beginning to boil when Lavender suddenly looked her in the eyes. "Oh don't worry your bushy little head", she rolled her eyes. "I hid them in Ron's trunk when we were dating. Truth is, I'd completely forgotten about them until now", she explained.

"So – so, he didn't know you'd done that?", Ginny asked. Lavender shook her head.

"Can I go now?", she asked. Ginny and Hermione nodded in unison before Lavender got up and made her way to the other side of the pub.

"Well, there you have it", Ginny smirked a little. Hermione looked down at her lap, feeling shame like she had never felt before. How could she have assumed Ron knew about this?

"I have to go back to the flat", she told her. Ginny nodded.

"The good thing is; Ron's already mucked up so many times before, you're allowed to do it at least once", she attempted to joke. Hermione sarcastically smirked at her before getting up and finding a good place to apparate. She stood outside the door of his apartment, readying herself to knock when she suddenly heard him yelling inside.

"- Well, how else did they fucking get there? Why would I want a bloody reminder of one of the biggest mistakes I've ever made! – George, if I find out you've got anything to do with this, I'll -", he stopped as she had suddenly found the courage to knock on the door. She heard him mutter something like 'I'll talk to you later', before hearing his footsteps inching ever closer. His face flushed bright red as he opened the door. She stood awkwardly, twiddling her thumbs as she hoped he would be the first to say something.

"May I come in?", she asked quietly. Ron nodded as he stepped aside, allowing her to come in as he shut the door behind her. She made her way into the living room as Ron followed her eagerly.

"Hermione, I promise you, I have no idea where those knickers came from. I was just on the phone to George to ask him if he knew anything about it – thought he might have been playing a joke on me. A bloody stupid one at that!", he told her. Hermione remained silent as she looked out of the window, searching for words of apology as she felt his eyes burning into her skin. "Hermione, please don't be mad at me. I – I'm sorry, I don't -"

"I'm sorry, Ron", she said quietly, cutting him off as she turned to look at him, her eyes welling up with small tears. Ron shot her a confused look as he raised his eyebrow with curiosity. "I – I bumped into Lavender earlier. Ginny asked her about it", she began to explain.

"Oh bloody hell, _Ginny_ knows about it?", Ron asked, huffing as he thought about his little sister discussing the fact he had a pair of his ex-girlfriend's knickers in his possession.

"Ron, please", she said, pulling him from his thoughts. Ron looked at her with sad eyes as she began to wipe her stray tears away with her thumb. "Well, she asked her about it and Lavender kindly explained that she had snuck them into your trunk whilst you were – _courting_ ", she grimaced slightly at the thought of Ron and Lavender being together.

"Wait", he suddenly said, nearing closer. "You found them in my trunk?", he asked. Hermione nodded. "The trunk next to my wardrobe?", he asked again. Hermione nodded once more. "Well, thank Merlin for that! Thought I was going mad", he gave a breathy laugh. Hermione looked at him, a little dumbfounded. "I haven't been in that trunk since sixth year! No wonder I never knew about them. Actually, I'm glad I never _found_ them", he grimaced himself. Hermione's tears suddenly became rapid as she sniffed and stared at the floor. "Hey", he spoke softly, standing in front of her as he lifted her chin up to look at him. Her brown eyes bloodshot with tears. "Don't cry, Hermione. It's alright", he smiled softly, using the sleeve of his jumper to wipe her tears away.

"It's not alright, Ron! I should have just trusted you instead of jumping to conclusions. I should have known better! I'm so sorry", she apologised as he pulled her into his chest, wrapping his long arms around her shoulders as he began to run his fingers across the top of her head.

"It's alright, Hermione. I'm actually glad you found them", he told her. Hermione looked up from his embrace, waiting for him to explain further. "Imagine finding those things when we're grey and old! Blimey", he joked. Hermione chuckled softly.

"I missed you", she suddenly said. Ron kissed the top of her head delicately as he sighed in content.

"I missed you too", he told her before ducking his head down and pressing his lips softly against hers. Oh, how she had missed him.


End file.
